Tyronn Lue meets with J.R. Smith about his ’embarrassing’ lapse that allowed a dunk

Though it might have been amusing to many NBA fans, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue didn’t think J.R. Smith’s “embarrassing moment” against the Bucks on Tuesday was a laughing matter.

Lue met with Smith regarding the sequence in which the veteran guard greeted Jason Terry on the Milwaukee bench while the Bucks inbounded the ball to Tony Snell, Smith’s responsibility on defense, for an uncontested dunk.

“It was an embarrassing moment,” Lue said Wednesday, via ESPN. “Me and J.R. talked about it. We're just going to move forward. We had a discussion about it, he felt embarrassed about it. It was an embarrassing play. We talked about it. We're moving on.”

Article continues below ...

The moment went viral on the Internet, easily the low point in the Cavs’ 118-101 loss, snapping their four-game win streak.

To make matters even stranger, Smith had most of his face covered during his postgame interview. And when asked about the play, he said he didn’t remember the incident.

Smith was in a more talkative mood Wednesday, saying after practice that the blunder was not intentional.

“Obviously we both know it wasn't intentional, but it was just a lack of focus,” Smith said. “One of the multiple things that compounded onto the loss was just as a team we haven't been as focused as we previously were. Winning and being who we are has a lot to do with that, but we've just got to overcome that and be better as a whole. It starts as individuals and then we can collectively become a group and team and have that mindset.”